


Blood, Sweat, Tears: The Road is Long and Full of Perils

by MugenYumeDansu



Series: Where Silver Leaves Fall and Golden Apples Grow [4]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: AU - Canon Divergence, AU - Dark, AU - Future setting, AU - Rebuilding Civilization, AU - Supernatural Creatures, Alternate Universe, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 10:42:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8575225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MugenYumeDansu/pseuds/MugenYumeDansu
Summary: A future AU in which Carl and Judith have grown up and started their own community, the world has changed, and the existence of supernatural creatures has become known.Zombies aren't the only perils to what is left of humankind.And a group of young men and women that Carl once encountered years ago while his father was still alive, seek him out to become a hunter of these monstrous beasts that threaten the survival of what is left of life on earth.





	

Carl wipes away the sweat gathering on his brow and continues to dig the hoe into the soft soil.

The planting season is finally here, and after the winter that his people have endured, he feels that this is just the rebirth they all need. Baptism by Earth.

The young man can't help but think that his late father would be so proud of what he has accomplished in just six short years since finding this place.

They call it The Plateau. Which is rather accurate, seeing as it is one. They had literally stumbled across it in their nomadic travels west, and decided to camp for a few weeks. Weeks had turned to months, and months to a year before they had all decided that this place would finally become home.

They had built a fortress out of wood, metal, and stone, reinforced twice by inner walls around an abandoned town and began the process of plowing fields, planting crops, and designing and implementing an irrigation system.

That had taken less than two years. Since then things had only improved. They now had electricity, due to solar panels, running water thanks to a rebuilt sewer system, and a rebuilt mill to process the crops they grew.

The community had grown from the original seventeen people, to well over two hundred, thanks to the efforts of everyone involved. Whole families had been relocated and now thrived here. Doctors weren't in short supply anymore, with three practicing doctors, a whole slew of nurses, and more people learning as much about medicine as they could, thanks to Carl's sister Judith encouraging it, and starting up an education program.

They had a school now, that taught basic math, reading, writing, languages, and survival skills. And not just to kids. Everyone who joined the community had to be able to pull their own weight, and were required to attend at least six months in order to pick up as many skills as possible.

Anyone who refused was asked to contribute in other ways, or to leave.

Carl was disappointed that so many people had chosen to leave, but they couldn't afford to let anyone have a free ride here. They had too many people depending on them to allow anyone to be anything other than useful. The children, the disabled and those with no other viable skills found a way to contribute to the system somehow, and they even had an established guard system for the walls 24/7, in shifts so that no one was stretched too thin.

Carl had taken every single thing he had learned over the years surviving with his father, and put it to use.

The weapons were now mostly of the handmade variety or what could be salvaged on every run, out of necessity; spears and javelins, bows and arrows, whatever guns could be scrounged and could take home-made ammo, slings and slingshots, knives, axes, staves and swords.

They farmed and raised an army of animals, horses included. They hunted in the forest areas, fished in the lake and the creeks, and made as much of a living as they could.

All in all it was a self sustaining community that relied very little on the outside world.

Carl was proud of that.

And over the years less and less walkers were seen. Once, one of Carl's patrols found a field of walkers that had once been a herd, decomposing with not even a hint of life. So it seemed that walkers had a time limit. A rather long one, granted, but once they passed a certain stage of decomposition, they just stopped functioning.

Ever since that discovery it was noted that not everyone who died came back. In fact just about one in three people who died of non-walker related causes came back, while everyone who was bitten returned.

Not long after that, however, other things began to emerge from the pits and shadows of the world. Decidedly inhuman things. 

The first were the were-beasts, revealed in the form of Rhys, Lorin and Sierra, a group that had tracked down Rick's group and leant a hand with the whole Alexandria-Negan situation.

Daryl and a few others had left with them not long after. Carl hadn't seen them since, but he continued to hear rumors about a group of wolf-like creatures tearing through the walkers and bandit groups up and down the east coast and across the gulf coast into Texas. That thought brought a smile to Carl's face.

Of course Rhys would still be causing a stir and creating havoc along the way.

The rumble of a vehicle brought Carl out of his thoughts. He looked over to see the beat up old jeep heading around the border of the fields. That would be Judith with lunch for the field workers.

Carl wiped more sweat out of his eyes and finished out the section he was hoeing before heading over for a lunch of stew and fresh bread.


End file.
